Black Americans in the revolutionary era: a brief history with documents

Black Americans and the coming of the American Revolution, 1750-1776

1. Fugitive Slave Advertisements, 1750-1776

Boston Gazette, October 2, 1750

Purdie and Dixon's Virginia Gazette, July 21, 1774

Pinkney's Virginia Gazette, January 6, 1776

Pennsylvania Gazette, August 7, 1776

2. Briton Hammon, A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings, And Surprizing Deliverance of Briton Hammon, A Negro Man, 1760

3. James Otis, The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved, 1764

4. Landon Carter, Plantation Diary, March 22, 1770

5. Anthony Benezet, Some Historical Account of Guinea... with an Inquiry into the Rise and Progress of the Slave Trade, Its Nature and Lamentable Effects, 1771

6. Felix, Petition to Governor, Council, and House of Representatives of Massachusetts, January 6, 1773

7. Patrick Henry, Letter to Robert Pleasants, January 18, 1773

8. Peter Bestes and Other Massachusetts Slaves, Letter to Local Representatives, April 20, 1773

9. Phillis Wheatley, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, 1773

On the Death of the Rev. Mr. George Whitefield, 1770

On Being Brought from Africa to America, 1773

10. Phillis Wheatley, Letter to Samson Occom, February 11, 1774

11. Andrew Estave, Letter in Pinkney's Virginia Gazette, July 20, 1775

12. John Murray, Lord Dunmore, A Proclamation, November 7, 1775

13. Thomas Jefferson, Original Rough Draft of the Declaration of Independence, June 177

Black Americans in military service, 1775-1783

14. A Letter from Monmouth County, June 21, 1780

15. Sergeant Murphy Steele, Deposition Reporting a Supernatural Encounter, August 16, 1781

16. John Trumbull, The Death of General Warren at the Battle of Bunker's Hill (Detail), 1786

17. Saul, Petition to the Virginia State Legislature, with Endorsement, October 9, 1792

18. Jacob Francis, Pension Application, 1836

19. Jehu Grant, Pension Application, with Corroborating Letter, 1836

Freedom, slavery, and the Revolutionary aftermath, 1775-1800

20. Nero Brewster and Other New Hampshire Slaves, Petition to the New Hampshire Legislature, November 12, 1779

21. John Cuffe and Other Free Blacks from Dartmouth, Petition to the Massachusetts Legislature, February 10, 1780

22. William Cushing, Charge to the Jury in the Case of Quok Walker, 1783

23. Susan Sedgwick, Elizabeth Freeman, 1811

24. John Marrant, A Narrative of the Lord's Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant, a Black, July 18, 1785

25. Citizens of Halifax County, Petition to the Virginia General Assembly, November 10, 1785

26. Prince Hall and Other Free Blacks, Petition to the Massachusetts Legislature, January 4, 1787

27. Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, and Others, Charter of the Free African Society, April 12, 1787

28. Raphaelle Peale, Absalom Jones, 1810

29. Rose Fortune, 1780s?

30. Captain William Booth, A Black Wood Cutter at Shelburne, Nova Scotia, 1788

31. Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia, 1788

32. Benjamin Banneker and Thomas Jefferson, Letters, August 19 and 30, 1791

33. David George, An Account of the Life of Mr. David George from Sierra Leone, Africa, Given by Himself, 1793

34. Boston King, Memoirs of the Life of Boston King, A Black Preacher, Written by Himself, July 4, 1796

35. Jacob Nicholson and Other Former Slaves from North Carolina, Petition to Congress, January 23, 1797

36. Prosser's Ben and Other Slaves, Testimony against Gabriel, October 6, 1800

37. Paul Cuffee, Memoir of Captain Paul Cuffee, October 1811

38. William C. Nell, The Colored Patriots of the American Revolution, 1855.